A Mobile Local Food App for Portland

So yesterday we finally plopped down the hundred bucks for an Apple developer’s license so we could finally see how Ripelist looks and functions on an actual phone (up until now we’ve relied on a desktop simulator to view it while being built). Although plenty of bugs remain to be dealt with and features still need to be added, it was great to see something we’ve dreamed of for years, a mobile local food app, actually working and functioning on a mobile device! Aaron has done a fantastic job of single-handedly building this app from an idea that only existed on Post-its a few months ago!

Although it’s still a work in progress, here is a sneak peak at a few captured frames from the app. Hopefully it will spark you’re imagination!

As we move ever closer to getting Ripelist to the iPhone app store I thought it would be a good time to briefly explain why we’re building the iPhone app before anything else.

When we started, with Aaron as our only developer, we knew we had to choose one platform to build out in order to do it well and in a reasonable amount of time. We ultimately decided that a mobile application, and specifically one for iPhone, since Apple has the most streamlined tools for development, was the direction we were going to go. We decided this mainly for two reasons.

Number one, being mobile would allow you to quickly and efficiently list something whether you’re in the kitchen, yard, or down the street, and easily snap and include a photo if needed. Of course all this can be done on a desktop but there are a few more steps involved and we wanted to make this thing as simple to use as possible!

Number two, the app is centered around proximity, “what kind of food is available around me right now?”. Being mobile allows you to check at any time what your neighbors have to offer no matter where you happen to be thereby increasing your chances of finding someone with something you want!

With more and more online communication and transactions moving over to mobile devices, we felt starting with the app was the best way to go.

Of course ultimately we do want Ripelist to be available to everyone on all platforms and we are definitely working towards that goal. Once we get the iPhone app up and running smoothly we will be able to spend more time and energy getting Ripelist to other platforms such as web and Android. In the meantime, if you don’t have an iPhone, sign up on our landing page anyway so we can keep you updated on future releases.

If you do have an iPhone, well you can now download it from the app store and start using the first truly mobile local food app. Enjoy!